Green Room

Video: Scott Walker electrifies CPAC, won’t rule out 2016 bid

“In America, we take a day off to celebrate the fourth of July, not the 15th of April.”

The Wisconsin governor built a robust case for his conservative reforms in a sunny and persuasive manner — with a personal touch that many elected Republicans neglect. He whipped up CPAC’s attendees with an optimistic message of individual empowerment, explaining that true compassion and dignity is rooted in independence from the constraints of government dependency. Walker closed on a stirring note, ending his speech precisely on time to a raucous standing ovation. All without notes. Oh, and by the way, he told me earlier that he isn’t ruling out a presidential run. If this guy keeps chugging in Wisconsin, how couldn’t he be on the A-list for 2016?

Blowback

Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.

Comments

Walker is overshadowed by another 40-something Wisconsinite who really loves budgets. I think that Walker will be an A-lister in the discussion if Ryan decides not to run. It is similar Bush vs. Rubio down in Florida. Ryan has been giving off odd, contradictory signals about whether or not he wants to run.

Instead of whining about the peanut gallery, you should write better analysis.

Scott Walker is one the most effective conservative governors we have. What makes him great is that he is willing to make tough, non-pandering decisions such as taking on public unions. So, what do you choose to highlight as the most important bit in your post?

“In America, we take a day off to celebrate the fourth of July, not the 15th of April.”

The peanut gallery is entitled to its say, of course…I just find the constant purity policing to be really tiresome. This post was not intended to be a lengthy analysis of Walker’s policies. (I’ve written a number of those). It’s about Walker’s savviness as a messenger…and encouraging people to listen to the message, pull quotes aside. By the way, that one-liner came at the end of his big closing crescendo; a powerful exclamation point on his larger message about pro-individual independence from government reliance.

I’m a big Scott Walker fan too, which is why your pull quote annoyed me. It goes against Walker’s entire governing style and appeal…that he will make the tough choices for the good of his state. The anti-panderer. I’m sure lowering taxes is an applause line, but it’s a pandering easy applause line. What makes Walker’s small government message resonate with conservatives is not the lower taxes side, but that he’s willing to cut services on the other side. You’ve inverted Walker’s message, by highlighting the wrong part.

As a stand alone, yes. But there was a whole speech leading up to that moment, and I thought it was a clever line, especially in light of his independence/dependence message. The full remarks are excellent.

Not to be the wet blanket here…but as a Walker supporter, I am personally disappointed at his budget. We have so many more opportunities to “right-size” this state’s finances after years of “money grows on trees and the trees never die”. Now it looks like it was only a 2 year “holiday” and things will go back to “the good old days”. Coming elections seem to have strange effects on people on both sides of the political divide.

His proposal to borrow $$$$ on transportation projects is particularly troubling to me. I suspect it is because he is coming up short on his jobs promise. And he is relaxing somewhat on the challenges he put out to municipalities/schools to right size their budgets. I don’t think 2 years is enough to get that message across especially after so many years of them getting whatever they wanted (we see stories everyday about waste and sloppiness). I would rather have seen him tightening the screws a little more. Make them really start checking the couch cushions for loose change.